Jiang Le'an withdrew his gaze, turned around, and pressed against the wall seven times.
Su Yan looked behind him; the walls all looked the same, flat and neat. "What happens if you press the wrong button?"
Jiang Le'an smiled bitterly, "I set up a poisoned arrow trap. The arrow is poisoned with venom, and there is no cure once it touches it."
Su Yan paused, thankfully he didn't rush straight in.
However, Jiang Le'an is too ruthless.
"Doing business is like fighting a war. If I weren't ruthless, I might not have survived until now."
Su Yan shook his head. "You reap what you sow."
The heavy, hidden door slowly opened, revealing the secrets of the inner room.
The three walls were completely filled with identical large mahogany chests, all of which were locked.
All the locks were sealed with the same seal.
Su Yan raised an eyebrow. "That was quite a clever move."
Jiang Le'an quickly bowed and said, "You flatter me, sir. This is the very foundation of my character, and I must be extra cautious."
After saying that, he turned and walked to a box in the far corner. "Sir, the evidence is in this box."
Jiang Le'an knelt down and presented the keys with both hands, saying, "I wish you a smooth and safe journey back to the capital!"
Su Yan took the key, tore off the seal, opened the box, and picked up the top, thickest ledger to look at.
"In the spring of the twenty-third year of Emperor Qing's reign, on the eighteenth day of the third month, Wang Yichun wanted to present a beauty basin as a tribute. He specially ordered me to abduct beautiful women under the age of fifteen, train them, and send them to the Prince's residence in the capital."
"In the spring of the twenty-third year of Emperor Qing's reign, on the thirtieth day of the third month, he presented 30,000 taels of silver to Wang Helu, the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat in the capital, as a birthday tribute, which has been received."
"On April 2nd, the tribute of 30,000 taels of silver for Consort Wang's birthday has been received."
"On April 5th, Wang Yichun received 5,000 taels of silver and sold me the fifth-rank official position of Transport Commissioner, which has already been assigned to my sworn brother Jiang Ji."
"Taxes will be paid in May. Wang Yichun ordered that starting this year, taxes be levied on fishermen. This was not ordered by the imperial court, and all the collected taxes will go into the Wang family's private treasury."
In June, Wang Yichun ordered his men to beat an old man named Lai Fang to death in the street. No one dared to ask the government for help, and all of Lai's land was given to Wang.
"In August, a fast news arrived from the capital: Consort Wang wanted a fan in the shape of a peony flower inlaid with kingfisher feathers and agate the day after tomorrow. Every household in Yangzhou had to hand over two kingfishers that day, with their feathers plucked raw. If they failed to do so, they would be punished with ten strokes of the cane."
"..."
Exploiting the people, trafficking young girls, buying and selling official positions, embezzling public funds and breaking the law, indiscriminately killing innocent people... Any one of these acts would be enough for Wang Yichun to be executed by slow slicing!
The Wang family is vast and deeply entrenched; no one in a high position has a clean past.
Believing that their ancestors were meritorious figures in the founding of the dynasty, they disregarded the laws and regulations of the Great Liang Dynasty.
They are all people with two eyes and one mouth, but because they are rich, they treat others like dirt!
How despicable and hateful!
Su Yan felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at him.
He put down this book and picked up another one, which was an account book of bribes to the Shen family. It was far less generous than the Wang family's account book, which only included silver offered during festivals.
He dared not be careless and even looked at a few books from the bottom of the box.
Jiang Le'an broke out in a cold sweat. "Apart from the Wang family, my interactions with other officials have only involved bribes of gold and silver."
Su Yan closed the box. "Besides you, who else knows about this box?"
Jiang Le'an was very alarmed, "I'm afraid many people know about this."
When caught in a whirlpool, everyone will try to save themselves something to protect their life.
Su Yan locked the box again. "I'll take the box away tonight. I'll take your sister with me. You can deal with Wang Yichun as usual."
Jiang Le'an quickly took out a letter from his clothes. "My lord, please give this letter to Yue'er."
Su Yan took it, nodded, and then carried the box out.
Jiang Le'an hurriedly rushed ahead of him, intending to disperse all the guards of the Jiang residence.
Su Yan said in a low voice, "No need, everything will remain the same."
Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Le'an turned around to look at him, but Su Yan was already gone.
Jiang Le'an did not return to the house. He clasped his hands behind his back, and the moon above his head was like a scimitar.
Looking at Fa Hong in vain, he's only in his thirties, how did he end up in such a dead end?
The night was cool and still; he stood motionless for a long time, his hair disheveled.
On the other side, Yan Yu, who was much faster than Heng Tong, jumped into the house after falling from the eaves.
Then came another time climbing onto the roof beam, narrowly escaping disaster.
He didn't dare to move too early this time, and waited quietly for a full quarter of an hour before jumping down after the two groups of people had passed by.
He immediately changed his clothes, abandoning his usual plain white attire, and put on a saffron fox fur coat, covered with a sea otter fur eagle-wing jacket, cinched his waist, and wore sandalwood clogs, looking exactly like a noble young master.
He walked slowly toward the Prince's Mansion.
The adults taught him that the more anxious he was inside, the less he should show it on his face.
As he approached the entrance of the Prince's mansion, two people suddenly jumped out, one on his left and one on his right.
"Sir, come over here to talk."
The two men led him into the alley.
Yan Yu's eye twitched. These were the two people, one fat and one thin, following behind him.
The two looked around but saw no one. They knelt down before Yan Yu and began to kowtow.
"My lord, please have mercy! We lost you today. If we go back and tell the truth, our lives will be in danger. Please tell us what you did this afternoon and save us."
Yan Yu smiled, "No problem, no problem, please get up quickly. I just went to buy some clothes this afternoon and then lost track of time while listening to opera at the teahouse."
The two stood up, and the thinner one asked, "Is this the most bustling Mingxiang Pavilion?"
Yan Yu nodded, "That's right. Alright, I'll go first, you guys follow."
Since it was a stalking operation, if the Wang family saw the three of them walking together, it would inevitably cause trouble.
After returning to the mansion, Yan Yu headed towards the room of the fake Su Yan.
As soon as the fake Su Yan saw him, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Good heavens, you're finally back. I thought you were going to leave me alone in this den of wolves to be eaten by the dragons and tigers."
Yan Yu frowned. "Isn't going into a dragon's den or a tiger's lair just feeding the tigers?"
Fake Su Yan glared at him.
Why didn't you go to distribute the porridge?
The fake Su Yan waved his hand, "I wouldn't dare if you weren't there."
Yan Yu: "..."
“Then I’ll go too when we go to distribute porridge tomorrow.”
He felt that what he needed to do now was to keep Wang Yichun calm, to make him careless, and not to become as tense as Jiang Le'an.
Otherwise, it will be even more difficult for the adults.
That night, another lavish feast was held, with all sorts of rare and exotic treasures—things that fly in the sky, run on the ground, and swim in the water—on the table and placed on the plates.
Even though Yan Yu had seen a lot from Su Yan, she still didn't recognize half of them.
He was astonished. The extravagance of the Wang family was terrifying; even palace banquets did not reach such a level.
By noon the next day, the fake Su Yan got up, reeking of alcohol.
If he keeps drinking like this, he won't be able to take it sooner or later.
Yan Yu entered the room, smelling the alcohol in the air, and suppressed her displeasure. "My lord, the porridge has been prepared. We just need you to show your face."
"Prime Minister Su, are you up?"
Wang Yichun's voice came from the doorway.
Yan Yu and the fake Su Yan exchanged a glance.
The prince's mansion knew everything about the two of them.
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